Menu

Post image 1
Post image 2
Post image 3
Post image 4
1 / 4
0

Our Lady J: Revealing She's Now Jewish Is Harder Than Coming Out as Trans

Variety·Marc Malkin·18 days ago
#kChylSVi
Reading 0:00
15s threshold

Yona Speidel , the Emmy nominated writer and producer formerly known as Our Lady J , recently experienced grief as a Jew for the first time. Just six weeks after converting to Judaism in March and officially changing her name, Speidel marked her late brother’s Yahrzeit (the anniversary of one’s death) by lighting a candle and reciting a prayer for the dead. She texted the prayer to her family. “None of them are Jewish or have any desire to convert, but they all said Yahrzeit,” Speidel tells me over Zoom from her New York City apartment. “They all read the texts and they lit the candles. I feel so lucky to have so much support. I could cry because it’s really a wonderful testament to the amazing people that my family are and the people that they’ve become as well.” Raised in an ultra-religious Amish and Mennonite community in Chambersburg, Penn., Speidel moved to New York City when she was 21. She came out as trans in 2004.…

Continue reading — create a free account

Join HashtagPLUS to read full articles, follow hashtags, vote, and join the conversation.

Read More